With the increase in global population and the vagaries of weather, water conservation has become a significant cause, not only in this country but throughout the world. It has been recognized that clean potable water be conserved and used primarily for those purposes where its qualities of cleanliness and purity are necessary, and other uses, such as the flushing of toilets, be accomplished utilizing so called "gray water". Gray water is generally defined as the "effluent" from household systems, such as household sinks and showers, laundry washing machine and dishwasher discharge. Such systems, although sufficiently contaminating the water so that its potability is compromised, do not so contaminate the water as to render it unfit for use for the flushing of toilets. Accordingly, a great many systems have been previously developed for such purposes, i.e., the recycling of such gray water for use in flush toilets.
The household plumbing systems in most modern municipalities are fully developed. One reason why gray water systems have not found greater usage is the cost of replacing the present plumbing system for one which can utilize the previously available gray water recycle systems.
Early systems which have utilized gray water require a substantial reconstruction of, or the construction of new, plumbing systems and include: U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,597 to Toms, U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,436 to Kaump, U.S. Pat. No. 3,112,497 to Call, U.S. Pat. No. 3,318,449 to Jennings, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,218 to McCormack, and the several references discussed in the Toms patent. There has been one concept which did attempt to overcome the handicap of requiring a separate plumbing system, in the combination wash basin and toilet system of Medrano in U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,864. But here, in addition to the cumbersome appearance of the design, this system does require a new flush toilet installation, and is very limited in its use of only wash basin effluent.